Solar thermal power plants: Over 500 experts expected at leading conference in Berlin

3 September 2009

Demonstration Solar Tower plant in Jülich, Germany

Desert power projects a central topic at SolarPACES 2009

From 15-18 September, 2009, top experts in business, science and politics will meet in Berlin at the SolarPACES conference, the largest international conference on solar thermal power plants. The central topics include desert power projects, as well as current developments in the field of solar thermal power. The German Aerospace Center (DLR), the leading research institute in this field in Germany, is the host of this year's conference, under the aegis of the Federal Minister for the Environment, Sigmar Gabriel.

According to some recent studies, in the year 2050 more than 15 per cent of electricity used worldwide could be generated by concentrating solar systems. These systems are power plants which concentrate direct solar irradiation and use the heat yield to produce power through a steam turbine and generator. Today, solar thermal power plants already provide over a million people with electricity. Therefore, the market for concentrating solar systems is seen as a very interesting growing market for future renewable power generation. In July, 2009, European energy companies and the Desertec foundation initiated a project to generate power for Europe in North African solar power plants.

Andasol 1: The world’s largest solar power plant delivers power to 200 000 people

The 15th SolarPACES conference, the latest in a long series of international conferences initiated by the SolarPACES Network of the International Energy Agency (IEA) in 1980 is already fully booked out and has achieved record numbers of participants registered. 16 different countries are involved in this Implementing Agreement, working together in the field of solar thermal power generation.

The experts will address the following topics:

the current market and perspectives for this form of solar power generation

political initiatives and programs worldwide to support market entry

cooperation with countries in the southern Mediterranean region on use of technology and the possibilities of exporting power to Europe

operational experience from the solar power plants currently in operation in many countries

new technical developments for further areas of application and for cost reduction in solar thermal technology

On the opening day of SolarPACES, 15 September, 2009, there is a press conference at 10:30 am. You find further information to the press conference in the right column of this page under the topic: "SolarPACES press conference".